Defender

"A so-so port of a game many consider to be a classic"

Defender was a game I hated as a kid. I just never understood what to do. Recently at work one day an older guy over heard me talking about games and he went into this giant description of Defender and how it's the best arcade game ever made. I believe I listened to a half hour diatribe about how to play, how every aspect of the game works and he had put a lot of thought into something I never really understood so I decided to give the game a go again on the Xbox 360's Live Arcade.

You're a single man in a ship. Your goal is to stop the alien forces from killing you and taking the last humans on Earth. It's a decent plot for way back when and it gives you enough motivation to play again.

Graphically this game hasn't really been changed since its original release and there is no option for enhanced graphics. The game still looks good though. It's easy to make out the different kinds of ships and while the humans may be small and hard to see they look sort of like humans. My favorite effect in the game is the explosion as the Earth's final human has been killed or mutated and you're the last man alive.

The sound in the game is very typical for its time. The firing is nicely done and the music is some what catchy and hectic all at the same time.

Control in the game is a little iffy. This is one of the few arcade games that allows movement up, down, left, and right and you just recycle the same screen as you travel about. There is also a fire button, a warp button and a bomb button. A bit advanced for the times. Problems come from the 360's controller not really being suited for this kind of movement.

As I said before the idea of the game is to stop the aliens. It's a pretty simple idea but they come from all sides and they can move anywhere they want. Early on you have a single type of ship to fight against but as you advance you fight a stronger version of that ship.

If by chance the aliens kidnap a human they will turn it into a mutant beast that you'll need to take down. So not only do you need to kill the aliens but you also need to make sure that they don't kidnap any humans or you may run into some problems.

What's neat though is that if all humans die or turn into mutants you can still live on to fight another day. The Earth may be in ruins but you can go on as long as you still kill all the enemies. Oh and by the way, they have all advanced to their next difficulty as well so it's much tougher now.

Defender is a simple enough idea and it's rather addictive after a while. I guess my childhood hatred for the game just came from not understanding how to play it. The game also offers on-line play. In both co-op and versus. It's a nice feature but like most other games of this type no one really plays it on-line.

Defender is considered one of the top ten arcade games of all time. I personally don't feel that way but it's a really good game. Sadly the 360's controls hinder the experience a little but if this is the only way for you to play it then by all means give it a go. 400 MS Points is a cheap price for a game like this.

Story - 8/10
Graphics - 8/10
Sound - 9/10
Control - 6/10
Game Play - 9/10
Replay Value - 8/10

Final Score - 7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/29/07

Game Release: Defender (US, 11/15/06)